Of Wanderers and Refugees

the end leads to the beginning

It began, Ezra supposed, with the end of everything. The day every TV came to life with the news. The world was ending, chaos was coming. Fires raged across the land, storms crashed through forests, and earthquakes shook the earth. Then he met Alyx, who could quell the fire and anger that raged in his heart and calm the storms that crashed outside his window.

She isn't standing in the rain when he meets her, it's not a dark or stormy day, and the wind isn't howling. Instead, the sky is blue, and the sun is reflecting off of the road Ezra is traveling down. He doesn't know what makes him stop when he sees her standing on the side of the road. She doesn't even have her thumb out, she's just standing there, one hand shielding her eyes from the sun, and the other holding onto a worn duffel. Suddenly the passenger seat beside him has never felt so empty. Slowly, he presses onto the brake pedal and lets the car slide to a stop. Rolling down the window, he glances at her face, "Need a ride?" he asks.

"Depends, are you offering?" She snips, although the smile on her face suggests she is not as annoyed as her voice suggests. Faltering, he raises an eyebrow and pauses for a moment, considering,

"I'm Ezra," he finally says, sliding over to the passenger seat to stick his hand out of the window. Cocking her head slightly she finally smiles, a grin bright enough to rival the sun, and reaches out to shake his hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Ezra." She says his name warmly as if trying out the feel of the words on her tongue. "My name is Alyx, could I hitch a ride with you?" He feels a smile of his own rise to his lips, awkward on his face because it feels like years since he last smiled.

"It would be my pleasure." He leans over to open the door for her before sliding back into the driver's seat. "You can just throw your bag in the back if you want." He offers, hating the way his voice betrays the nervousness he is feeling. He waits until she is settled before shifting the car out of the park and easing back onto the road. Mentally, he forces himself to relax, focusing on letting all of his muscles loosen up as he picks up speed on the nearly deserted highway.

As they drive, and the sun falls lower and lower in the sky, the awkward silence falls away and they start to talk. They don't speak about anything specific, just glossing over topic after topic as the time passes. It occurs to Ezra hours down the road that he should have asked where Alyx was heading. For a few minutes, he tries to convince himself to speak up. After a while, Alyx cut herself off, frowning at the pinched look on Ezra's face. "What's with the face? Do we need to stop or something?" She asks.

Sighing, he turns halfway to grin bashfully at her, "No, I just realized that I probably should have asked you where you were heading to."

Smirking, she kicked both her feet up onto the dashboard, her bare toes wiggling in the sun.

"I didn't have a destination in mind, so I guess you're stuck with me."

Rolling his eyes he pushes at her feet, "Get those nasty things off my car." He jokes, before turning fully back to the road.

"I'm just kidding. I really don't have anywhere to go, so whenever you want to drop me off―" she started, her voice serious now, until Ezra interrupted her.

"No, no, it's fine, I was just making sure." He swallowed, "I'm not headed anywhere in particular, so if you want you could travel with me for a while." It occurs to him as he says it that he doesn't even know this girl. She could be a serial killer for all that he knows! Still, as he says it he knows that it doesn't matter. There is something special about Alyx, and for someone who has struggled with trust issues since he left home, this is what his sister, Cas, would call major progress.